Wisconsin Smart Growth law under attack at the capitol

Wisconsin Republicans have introduced a bill to eliminate the comprehensive planning requirement passed in 1999, and also eliminate state funding for smart growth land use planning. Assembly Bill 303 would lift the land-use plan requirement and allow local communities to “opt out” even if they have already completed a plan. The grant program, now at $3 million annually, would be eliminated although existing grants would continue until exhausted.

According to a memo released by House Republicans, “This is a lengthy, complicated and costly process, and delays a local government’s ability to quickly respond to certain issues when necessary.”

“This is a solution in search of a problem,” says the director of 1,000 Friends of Wisconsin. “Folks claim this is about ‘local control’ but the only winners will be out-of-state developers who can come in and dictate to local officials, who’ve lost the only control they had.”